PopeWatch: Cardinal Pell

Faithful readers know that George Cardinal Pell was a hero at the Synod, openly telling the powers that be that they had to stop attempting to manipulate it. Go here to read about his profile in courage.

It comes as little surprise then that the powers that be at the Vatican have now painted a target on his back. Father Z gives us the details:

Marco Tosatti, more and more a guy to follow in the Italian press for analysis of churchy things, has a piece at La Stampa about Card. Pell and how things are going in the Curia.

I don’t have time to translate the whole thing for you right now, but here is a sample:

How annoying Pell is …

There are those in the Curia who are seeking to de-legitimize the straightforward Australian Cardinal, head of the Secretariat of Finance, underscoring his brusque and direct character. Also, because of his speeches and the Synod on the family. But perhaps there are other motives…

Now that the departure of Cardinal Burke from the Signatura has been formalized, taking power away from one of the most straightforward and independent voices, in the Roman Church, in the Curia they are talking about a slithery maneuver to de-legitimize the Australian Cardinal George Pell, head of the new financial and economic Secretariat. He, like Burke, is someone who does not mince his words.

They became aware of this at the Synod, when the Australian Cardinal forcefully burst out against the secretary [Card. Baldisseri], who was suggesting the hypothesis of voting by raised hands, instead of in secret, on the texts. And he continued to speak even with his microphone turned off [how Reaganesque!] before they turned it back on for him, exclaiming “There has to be transparency! Everyone ought to be able to express himself as he wants!” It was certainly an exchange of opinions that wasn’t very muffled, which reached its apex when, at the suggestion to treat the whole situation with a communiqué through the press office, Pell let fly, “We don’t trust their communication!”, or something similar. At this point, applause erupted, with many of the Synod fathers all speaking together.

[…]

I must dash. Perhaps one of you can finish it, or I can get to it later.

In any event, it doesn’t sound as if this day of the Synod, at least, was replete with boring consensus, except insofar as the Synod Fathers were in angry consensus about how they were being manipulated. My spies from the Synod tell me that it was pretty tense and that there was more than a few voices raised.

So, the knives that were out for Burke are now being sharpened for Card. Pell. Bet on it.

Go here to read the comments. Clerical backstabbing at the Vatican is nothing new. That orthodox Cardinals are the only ones being so stabbed is new, at least since the pontificate of John Paul II.

Donald R. McClarey

Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three and happily married for 35 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.